Jack Warner appears to have been paid £720,000 from a company controlled by Mohamed Bin Hammam, an ex-member of Qatar’s Fifa committee

A top Fifa official and his family were paid almost £1.2m by a Qatari firm linked to the country’s successful World Cup bid, it was reported last night.

Jack Warner, former vice president of football’s governing body, appears to have been paid £720,000 from a company controlled by Mohamed Bin Hammam, an ex-member of Qatar’s Fifa committee.

The payment is reported to have been made shortly after the decision was made in December 2010 to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup tournament.

A note dated December 15 2010 from one of Mr Warner’s companies, Jamad, to Mr Bin Hammam’s firm Kemco asked for $1.2m (£720,000) in payment for work carried out between 2005 and 2010.

One document says the payments are to ‘offset legal and other expenses’.

But a separate letter claims the money covered ‘professional services provided over the period 2005-2010’.

Payments totalling around £450,000 were also said to have been paid to Mr Warner’s two sons in documents seen by the Daily Telegraph.

The FBI is now understood to be investigating Mr Warner after the money was transferred via a bank in New York.

A source said: “These payments need to be properly investigated. The World Cup is the most important event in football and we need to be confident that decisions have been made for the right reasons.

“There are lots of questions that still need to be answered.”

Mr Warner was one of 22 people who decided to award the 2018 tournament to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

He was one of four Fifa chiefs accused by England 2018 bid chief Lord Triesman of asking for business deals and favours in return for their support.

The Labour peer said Mr Warner asked for money to build an education centre in Trinidad, with the cash channelled through him and £500,000 to buy World Cup television rights for Haiti.

Mr Warner resigned from all football posts in June 2011 after he was accused of facilitating bribes to members of the Caribbean football union on behalf of Mohamed Bin Hammam, who was standing against Sepp Blatter to be Fifa president.

Mr Warner and his family declined to comment. A spokesman for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organising committee said: “The 2022 bid committee strictly adhered to Fifa’s bidding regulations in compliance with their code of ethics.

“The supreme committee for delivery and legacy and the individuals involved in the 2022 bid committee are unaware of any allegations surrounding business dealings between private individuals.”